


Date night

by ZHIREM



Series: A moral spectrum [17]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Grammar fail like always, M/M, No Beta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 13:30:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12133545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZHIREM/pseuds/ZHIREM
Summary: How do you know if someone loves you?





	Date night

"We have a hit, one of the trucks was traced to a shell company, it's parent, Hydra financed." Maria said as she entered the room, and scanned for Steve. 

Brock stood and paced over to her, "What company? What city? I might know the name of the director." 

"The companies headquarters are in Austin, Texas. A pharmaceutical company, mostly they produce various psychotropics. " Maria informed them.

"Well, lets get the show on the road," Tony said as he stood up from the couch he had been laying on. "We can talk strategy on the plane." Tony stopped at the door when he realized Rumlow wasn't following him, "What's the hold up? let's skedaddle."

Brock paused and stared at Tony, "Skedaddle? Really? Anyway we should find out if they even still have Winter. If they don't, he's not going to stick around Texas, no safe house, no supply drops. If he's running free... if he's trying to draw pursuit...to us, away from us...," Brock trailed off and started to drum his fingers against his leg as he stared at a map of the United States on his computer. 

"We won't know if they have him until we get there" Clint said while shrugging. 

"Tony, can Jarvis get into their computer systems?" Steve asked.

Tony laughed and said while leering, "Jarvis is just like me, nothing and no one can keep us out of their private...business."

"Right, everybody suit up, we'll head to Texas and Jarvis will work on finding out if Hydra still has him at that location.", Steve ordered as he left the room. 

Brock continued staring at the map for several moments before he followed the Avengers. After leaving the room, the team split up to gather their gear before they were to meet at the Quinn jet. 

Brock headed to his room to grab Winters' gear and a gun for himself. Technically, Brock was still on a form of probation and was not supposed to carry but, technicalities had never stopped him before. He checked the ammo clips and stashed several in a carry bag along with one of their laptops. 

As he was putting stuff in the bag he had to sit down as his knees went weak, if Winter was really taken, if it wasn't just some setup, some game....Brock could... just not, _really_ , try to recover him. 

Rumlow shook his head, trying to gain perspective, some form of distance. Did he really want Winter back? But...but, what would he do without Winter? Who would he be? Did he even _want_ to find out? 

Brock shook his head one more time before standing up and finishing his packing. He just didn't know what he wanted, not really. He wanted Winter back, but, was that just because he didn't know how he would/could exist without him? He didn't know, and maybe, thought he was ashamed to admit it, he didn't _want_ to know. What life would be like without James, without that security, without knowing he was wanted, needed. 

Rumlow decided to push it back, push it down like he always did. He had a mission to complete, and he would damn well complete it. Brock finished packing quickly and headed to the landing pad. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James was speeding down the 290, just another half hour till he hit the 10. Then it was a straight shot to Baton Rogue, there was a safe house on Coursey blvd, they had lived there two months once, in the 90s. He couldn't control the smile that seemed to want to crawl over his face every five minutes.

It wasn't often he got to remember good things, Louisiana had almost always been good. Even when they woke up in an abandoned house in New Orleans after drinking too much, taking too much acid, and falling in with a bunch of street kids. It had been good. The kids had been clever, in the way that all street kids are. They knew when not to try their luck, so they lived. Two months during which he didn't have to kill anyone, hurt anyone. Just some corporate espionage, it was good. So nice, relaxing even. 

He might have left the kids with several thousands of dollars in stolen gear and items from some of Hydras other safe houses. Nothing traceable. Hydra never knew. The kids, they thought they were vampires...so stupid, but clever when it can to surviving. 

Even though the city was torn up, block after block of abandoned, condemned buildings, Baton Rouge was still pretty in his mind. Any place that had drive thru booze was nice, though times have changed. James actually misses the 50s, the 60s, sometimes even the 40s, hell the 30s. 

1917....he turned a hundred this year, he still looks like he's in his twenties. How many more decades will he miss after they're over? But he's got the Stone, he's got a plan. Soon he'll be able to create more good memories, more then just two months here, three months there, five days, four hours. He hopes he can eventually rack up at least 50 years of good memories

He'll pick up some weapons, make a few calls, ditch the car, and steal a new one. He'd like to stay longer at the house, same pale green paint, same bed, same blue carpet, but...but he needs to move, get things done.

Take the 12 to the 55, head north, there's a hotel in Mississippi, creepy large aquariums in the lobby. Owner's big into militia and survivalist groups, not Hydra, but still connected with gun runners, drug runners. A bit of a scum bag, kiddie trafficking perv, but James has no moral superiority. James has done much worse.

He can place a few requests, order some chaos on the go. Move move move.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brock is resting his eyes as they fly towards Austin, when the seat next to him jostles as someone sits down. He doesn't want to open his eyes, doesn't want to interact with anyone. 

"So, Jarvis is having trouble getting into their systems, it seems they have been experiencing technical difficulties, many of their servers are offline. We're going to have to get to a physical computer that's wired into their systems." Stark said in exasperation. 

"Could that mean Bucky is free?" Steve asks hopefully. 

"Don't get too excited big guy," Nat said, "One does necessarily mean the other. They might actually be having real computer problems that are unrelated to James."

Steve sighed, "I know, I'm just worried that Hydra has been able to suppress Buck's memories again." 

Since the boyband didn't seem to need his input Rumlow was happy to continue to fake sleep. 

"Stark, how much longer till we reach Austin?" Steve asked.

"Not the pilot, ask Barton." Tony responded. 

"Ok, ok." Steve said before getting up and moving towards the front of the plane. Stark and the Widow following.

Brock opened his eyes after he was sure everyone had moved towards the front of the plane. He could finally check his phone without anyone looking over his shoulder.

As he was scrolling through his messages Clint flopped down next to him and said "Man if Stark whines at me one more time I am going to lose my shit, 'are we there yet, are we there yet' jackass."

Brock put his phone back in his pocket, smiled at Barton, and replied, "He's your friend, and he is paying for our ride. Suck it up."

Clint smiled, and said, "Awe logic, no. But we should be arriving in about 10 min, so get yo shit together and get ready to move."

"Aye aye, Captain." Brock responded.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After they landed they had to split up into two cars, Stark had rooms at a hotel for them all. Nat, Clint, and Steve were going to scout out the headquarters of the company, Stark and Brock were going to the hotel to set up their equipment.

"Hey Stark, I'm going to go pick up some food at one of those fast food restaurants we saw on the way here, you want anything." Brock asked as he put his bag over his shoulder. 

"Uggg, how you can eat that cheap trash, I don't know," Tony replied.

"Well not all of us are 'genius, billionaire, philanthropist, superheroes'," Brock said while smiling at Tony.

Tony shifted his feet back and forth, "Well, Peppers not here...get me some fried chicken, a six pack and...well...a double bacon burger," Tony blushed, "She put me on a diet...something about my cholesterol and being mid forties..." 

Brock laughed, "No problem big guy, won't say a word," Brock opened the hotel door saying, "I'll be back in a few."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tony, we're going to have a hard time getting into the building, it's swarming with emergency personal. There's FBI and what looks like half the ambulances and firetrucks in the city in the parking lot. Tell Rumlow that James is most likely no longer in the city." Steve informed Stark.

"Huh, Brock went on a food run, that was over an hour ago. He probably got lost, I don't know if he knows the city that well, ask Clint to give him a call, I don't have his number on my cell." Tony said.

After hanging up his cell Steve relayed Tonys request to Clint. 

"Sure, I'll call him," Barton said while hitting some buttons on his phone.

"He's not picking up." Clint said as he canceled the call, but remained staring at the text message app. 

"Shit, shit, Rumlow's in the wind," Clint told Steve and Nat as he started pacing, "Shit. He checked his messages on the plane, he didn't say anything, he turned down the option to check out the Hydra base." Clint said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"He knew Winter wasn't there, Brock knew. Winter contacted him. Shit, Rumlow stared at one of the messages for too long, I thought it was an old message. 'A thousand roses for my love at the gateway to my heart', shit. They're running, they're running." Clint finished and threw his phone at the side of the building they were parked next to. 

Nat watched Clint with narrowed eyes before shrugging, "We need to find out what this Hydra base had that Winter wanted, that Winter thought he needed. By now Rumlow would have ditched anything we could track." 

"Why are you calling Bucky...James, Winter? Steve asked while frowning.

Clint and Natasha shared a look before turning to Steve. Nat sighed, "Steve, if he wasn't Winter before, he probably is now, and if Winter is running free, one of the first things he would do is call his dog to heel", she said.

"And Rumlow, like all good dogs, is loyal to his master." Clint finished with a sad smile.


End file.
